CPTnet
August 13, 2002
HEBRON UPDATE: July 28- August 3, 2002

Sunday, July 28, 2002
Curfew on entire city--H-1(formerly under Palestinian control) and H-2

The Israeli military placed the Old City under curfew at 8:30 a.m. in
preparation for the funeral of Israeli soldier Elazar Leibovitz, whom
Palestinian snipers killed south of Hebron several days earlier. Leibowitz
had been a resident of the Avraham Avinu settlement in Hebron.

Jim Satterwhite and Greg Rollins went on patrol while soldiers were imposing
the
curfew. Rollins intervened when a soldier grabbed a Palestinian shopkeeper
by the neck and ordered him to close shop.

LeAnne Clausen and Janet Shoemaker responded to a call informing them that
settlers were attacking a friend's house near Tel Rumeida. The settlers
were gone by the time the CPTers arrived, but the family asked that someone
stay with them for the rest of the day in case the settlers returned. An
hour later, Rollins replaced Clausen and Shoemaker and stayed there until
evening.

Shortly after noon, the team heard shots fired not far from the CPT
apartment. Soon after that, a neighbor called to say that the settlers were
creating problems in the market and invading houses. Clausen and
Satterwhite went to investigate and learned that a group of settlers had
left the funeral procession and rampaged through the market, shooting
randomly at Palestinian homes and people. By the end of the day, nine
Palestinians and fifteen Israeli police and soldiers were reported injured,
and
one Palestinian girl was killed [See July 28 release, "Settler rampage kills
one, injures many."]

Monday, July 29, 2002 Curfew lifted 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Satterwhite and Rollins visited farmers near the Harsina settlement. One
of the farmers took the CPTers and their translator to visit Neti, a Yemeni
settler who has put up an outpost on Palestinian farmland. Neti began
talking to the group, but refused to continue when he learned that
Satterwhite and Rollins were with CPT.

Clausen and Shoemaker went with a human rights reporter from B'Tselem to
the house of Ahmed en- Natsche, young boy whom settlers had stabbed
on Sunday. They learned that during the attack on Sunday, a settler had
grabbed Ahmed's younger brother by the ears, picked him up off the floor
and slammed him back down. His ear was bruised and torn.

At 4:00 p.m. two settler youth began throwing stones into the Chicken
Market. The shop owners ignored them and they eventually left when adult
settlers walked by.

Clausen, Shoemaker, and a Palestinian friend went to a house belonging to
the Sharabati family near the Avraham Avinu settlement to document damage
settlers had created when they ransacked the house Saturday night. When
Clausen knocked on the door and identified herself as CPT, they heard
banging on the door and yelling from the inside. The CPTers heard a shout
from the roof and looked up to see a settler boy with a chunk of concrete
in his hand, ready to throw at them. They quickly left, narrowly avoiding
being hit by the rock. Unable to return the way they came, they continued
out of the market through a closed military zone. The soldiers stationed
at the entrance to the street greeted the three and stated, "We usually
don't let people pass through there." When Clausen explained that the
settlers had taken over a Palestinian home and were throwing rocks, the
soldier responded, "They are angry because of the soldier who was killed."

On their way back, a young Palestinian man directed Clausen and Shoemaker
to the Abu Samir Sharabati home that settlers had attacked Saturday. An
elderly couple who have spent years collecting Palestinian antiques owns
the house. Settler youth had overturned furniture and smashed everything
in every room of the house. The library, which contained rare
books (some 1,000 years old) on the history of Palestine, Islam, and
Jewish-Arab relations in Hebron, was completely incinerated. "There were
many old and expensive things here. They took the expensive ones and
destroyed everything else," the owner said. "It's not the money. We tried
to preserve our history here."

While Kathy Kamphoefner and Rollins were on the apartment rooftop in the
evening, the soldier stationed on the rooftop across the street threw a
rock at them. Kamphoefner turned and asked, "What's wrong with you?" The
soldier sheepishly returned to his booth without replying.

Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Curfew lifted 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

During the team's morning meeting, settler youth began throwing rocks into
the Chicken Market at Palestinians. When Clausen and Jerry Levin went to
photograph the incident, teenage settler women entered into the fray,
walking into the market and threatening the CPTers. When Clausen attempted
to protect her camera from the settlers, the young women attacked her [See
July 30 release, "Settler women attack CPTers, shop owners in Old Market."]

An hour later, a neighbor of the team stopped by to express how angry he was
about the assault against Clausen. He kept repeating, "I am very angry for
you!"

Shortly after noon, the settler women entered again, with a few more
friends, throwing rocks and yelling. This time, the police arrived early,
but stood outside the barricade to the market and watched the young women
assaulting the shopkeepers. The women went further into the market until a
group of soldiers ushered them out towards Gross Square. They lingered at
the entrance of the market for a half hour until a group of Palestinian
reporters began photographing them. The soldiers then forced the Old
Market vendors to close for the rest of the day.

Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Curfew lifted 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Thursday, August 1, 2002
Curfew lifted 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Satterwhite led the newly arrived CPT delegation on a tour of Hebron. As
they approached a checkpoint near Bab iZaweyya, they saw about fifteen men
sitting on the curb. The men reported that soldiers had held them there for
over two hours. The CPTers asked why the soldiers were
holding them. The officer then returned the ID's to the men and released
them. Soon after that, while the delegation continued through the market
area, they noticed soldiers making another sweep through Bab iZaweyya and
rounding up more young men for ID checks.

In a phone conversation with Jeff Halper from the Israeli Coalition